A University of Princeton professor is accusing Princeton, N.J. police officers of racism and abuse after she was arrested on February 8, but the cop car dash cam showed a completely different side of the story.
The N.J. Police released the dash cam on Thursday of African-American History Professor Imani Perry being pulled over for speeding and then being arrested when police officers discovered she had a suspended license — and a warrant for an unpaid parking ticket.
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Despite the police’s professionalism in carrying out the letter of the law, Perry believed her race and not her actions were contributing factors in her arrest.
Perry slammed the police on Twitter and Facebook, where she recounted her position as a black woman dealing with institutionalized racism. She begins claiming some responsibility for not paying her parking ticket, but says that the issue is bigger than that.
“What they fail to understand is that I did not purport to be without fault,” Perry wrote on Facebook. “Now, make no mistake, I do not believe I did anything wrong. But even if I did, my position holds. The police treated me inappropriately and disproportionately. The fact of my blackness is not incidental to this matter.”
She said because she was not allowed to make a call before her arrest, she was discriminated against. The police say otherwise.
According to Inside Higher Ed, it is a police department policy to refuse anyone — regardless of their race or income — to make a phone call before arriving at the station.
Watch the video of the police dash cam below:
